manufacturing jobs

Last Friday, Starbucks announced it will build a new factory in Georgia -- and it's hardly the only big company moving manufacturing back to the U.S. Call it insourcing, reshoring or whatever you like, but bringing jobs home is starting to look like a trend.

On the verge of bankruptcy last fall, the American Mug and Stein Company got a new lease on life, courtesy of Starbucks. In part, it's Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz trying to support U.S. employers. But he's getting a lift from the simple economics of labor.

U.S. factory output increased in April, helped by a gain in auto production. Busier factories have driven stronger hiring this year and helped the economy grow. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that factory production rose 0.6% in April, erasing a 0.5% decline in March.

The U.S. manufacturing sector is a sight for sore eyes: After more than a year of expansion, it's still growing, as American factories continue to churn out the equipment, machines and products that emerging-market nations need to develop their infrastructures.

Ford plans to invest $600 million in a Kentucky plant to build the next-generation Escape SUV, creating an 1,800 additional jobs, the automaker said Thursday. The new jobs will be added incrementally after the Louisville Assembly plant is rehabbed and reopened late next year.

Manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly surged in November, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Thursday. The Philly Fed's Business Outlook Survey index jumped to 22.5 in November from 1 in October, it's highest reading since December 2009.

Manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region showed modest improvement in October, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which saw its Business Outlook Survey rise to 1.0. However, despite that return to positive territory overall, key index components continued to reveal economic softness.

Building a new chipmaking plant and upgrading four others will result in thousands of construction and high-tech jobs, the world's leading supplier of microprocessors said today. It's a strong statement from a company that has been critical of Washington's business policies.

Mike Rowe's role as host of "Dirty Jobs" puts him hip deep into the roughest, toughest and filthiest jobs in America. But for the past two years, he's had a second job -- running MikeRoweWorks, a website and foundation that advocates for good-old, honest blue-collar work.

The 1% increase eases worries that activity in the sector that's so far led the U.S. economic recovery is cooling. The July increase was led by strong performances in the manufacturing and mining segments, while utilities cooled off.

Obama visits Detroit today to bolster the administration's claims that the $86 billion spent to rescue GM and Chrysler from oblivion was well worth the jobs it has put people into, and the million or more the government says it saved.